The President and the Council of Economic Advisers
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About the Book and Editors
The President and the Council of Economic Advisers: Interviews with CEA Chairmen
edited by Erwin C. Hargrove and Samuel A. Morley
Interviews with ten former chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers--from the Truman to the Carter administrations--are gathered in this book to examine the relationship between economic advisers and the president and the institutional relationships among the CEA, executive departments, and federal financial agencies. The interviews also reconstruct major presidential decisions since the establishment of the CEA, such as the 1964 tax cut, the 1971 wage and price freeze, and presidential strategies for managing inflation and recession. In a preface to each interview, the editors analyze the conditions for CEA effectiveness, look at how well the advice of the Council has conformed to the presidential world view, and pinpoint the distribution of responsibility for policy analysis and advice within successive administrations.
Erwin C. Hargrove is professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and is director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. Samuel A. Morley is professor of economics and business administration at Vanderbilt University and is a consultant for the World Bank.
First published 1984 by Westview Press
Published 2019 by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright 1984 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 84-51229
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-29533-2 (hbk)
Contents
Erwin C. Hargrove and Samuel A. Morley
This volume contains oral history interviews with ten of the past chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers. Eight of the interviews were conducted at Vanderbilt University in the 197778 academic year. They were conducted in the historical sequence in which the chairmen were in office, beginning with Leon Keyserling and concluding with Alan Greenspan, with two exceptions: Arthur Burns was interviewed in July 1980 and Charles Schultze was interviewed twice, in 1982 and 1983.
With the exceptions of the Burns and Schultze interviews, all of the sessions were conducted at Vanderbilt University as faculty seminars in which a small number of faculty members met for a full day with each guest. Each discussion lasted approximately six hours. A faculty seminar was a good way to elicit responses because the general conversation would stimulate unforeseen insights and reflections. The membership of the seminars varied slightly, but a core of steady participants was always present. Erwin C. Hargrove and Samuel A. Morley took principal responsibility for the questioning, with Hargrove focusing on institutional and political questions and Morley devoting his attention to the contents of economic policy and the contribution of economics to policy. Professor Ivar Berg suggested the seminar format initially and was a regular and valuable participant. Professors Avery Leiserson and Dewey Daane contributed greatly to the entire project. Professor Lester Seligman of the University of Illinois participated in several of the seminars. James Gardner, a recent doctoral graduate in history from Vanderbilt, prepared background essays on the chairmanship of each guest as preparation for the seminar members. These edited essays will be found in this volume preceding each interview.
The sessions were recorded on tape and transcribed. The former chairmen reviewed the transcriptions, made additions and subtractions and gave their approval for publication. An edited version was then prepared for publication by Kay Hancock, a Research Associate at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. Scarlett Graham and JoAnn Bennett, also of the Institute, did further editing to reduce the length and enhance readability. Mrs. Bennett also supervised the final preparation of the manuscript for publication. The original, approved transcripts are on file at the Institute and may be read by students and scholars who receive the permission of the men whose materials they wish to examine.
Louise Patton did a very efficient job of transcribing the tapes. Janice Jones and Cheryl Solometo helped with additional typing. Diane Sircy retyped the entire manuscript in preparation for photocopying. Lottie Strupp, of the Institute staff, managed the project and kept track of tapes, materials and successive editions of transcripts.
The project was supported by the public policy committee of the Ford Foundation, the University Research Council of Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. Vanderbilt University contributed to the publication of this book with a subvention.
